With growing energy costs alternative energy sources are increasingly sought. This trend is present in both the commercial and residential environments. Solar energy has long been recognized as a possible green energy source for both the heating of water and the generation of electricity.
For energy production, photovoltaic cells grouped together as panels or modules are a common option. With commercial rooftops generally being substantially flat, installation issues are generally focused on doing minimum harm to the roof to prevent leaks, taking care not to overload or stress the roof, etc. Moreover, compared to residential homes, the flat roofs of most commercial installations are generally simple.
With the growing increase in residential photovoltaic module installation flat roofs are far less common. Indeed, for most single-family homes, the roof is pitched. While this presents a potential benefit for aligning photovoltaic modules at a beneficial angle for incidence of sunlight, it also presents additional challenges for the installation of the photovoltaic module or modules.
Not only does the mounting system serve to safeguard the photovoltaic modules from force vectors due to wind, rain, snow, hail and other element of weather, but the mounting system generally is desired to be as aesthetic and unobtrusive as possible. In general this means the mounting system fits beneath the photovoltaic modules. Although more track homes are being built as construction issues are simplified for builders, there are still enough variations that each roof is substantially unique.
Typically therefore a rack mounting system is laid out and assembled piecemeal with periodic alignment checks, chalk lines and multiple measurements made in an effort to maximize usable roof space in a safe and aesthetically pleasing manner. As the mounting system is physically anchored to the pitched roof, multiple holes are introduced to the roof during installation, and this can be an issue with respect to future weather proofing and water proofing.
Each spot selected for anchoring may or may not seat itself well against the roofing material. Further, in some installations the anchoring process may disrupt the roofing tiles or shingles such that despite whatever anchoring hole is made, the roofing material itself may be damaged and no longer weather or more specifically water proof.
In addition, as traditional mounting systems are assembled piecemeal on the spot, the installer must not only hold, position and assemble the components of the mounting system, but he or she must also hold the nuts, bolts, clamps, brackets, connectors, drill, glue and other various tools and assembly elements. As the roof is typically pitched, to drop an element is to likely see it fall to the ground—a distance that may vary from a few feet to tens of feet.
When an item is dropped, it is frequently human nature to reach for the dropping item, which on a roof can present a significant safety hazard. The lack, loss or misplacement of a single component can significantly frustrate the entire installation process, adding to labor costs and overall time.
Add to this that local weather conditions change frequently and installers may be called upon to install, repair or upgrade an installation of photovoltaic modules in a variety of conditions, including wind, rain, frost and icing and issues of a pitched roof and multiple separate elements for installation can become a safety concern.
Moreover, a typical residential photovoltaic module system installation can easily take an entire day per kilowatt, subject the installer or installers to multiple trips up to and down from the roof, require careful measuring and re-measuring, mounting and remounting, changing conditions in footing, as well as potentially damaging the weather proofing integrity of the roof itself.
Hence there is a need for a method and system that is capable of overcoming one or more of the above identified challenges.